1. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan
A Quantitative Content Analysis of Political Discussions in Online Forums from Arab Countries:
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan
Eisa Al Nashmi

2. Objective Arab world in the center of recent controversies
Media stereotypes of the Arab world:
Violent
Homogenous, united
Undemocratic
Threat to the West
Do the media present an accurate picture of the Arab world?
This study went directly to the Arab world
Eisa Al Nashmi

3. Method Content analysis
The most popular GENERAL forums from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt
960 samples from the year 2006
Coded for:
Topic
Tone
Agreement and disagreement of comments
Eisa Al Nashmi

4. RQ1: How Interested are Arabs in Politics?
Political topics of discussion ranked within the top three most discussed categories in all forums
Saw the Internet as an open opportunity for political dialogue
Were not shy or reluctant to express their opinions
Eisa Al Nashmi

5. RQ2: What were the topics of discussion?
Politics
Social issues
Religion
Nations
Government
Education
Islam
Local
Elected Officials
Healthcare
Sunni
Iraq
Laws
Crime
Shiite
Palestine
Elections
Minorities
Shariah
Lebanon
Ideology
Media
Scholars
Iran
War
Marriage
Christianity
U.S.A
Economy
Women
Judaism
Israel
Other
All Arab
Other Arab
Other Non Arab
Eisa Al Nashmi

6. Kuwait Highest number of discussions about: Electoral districts
Elected officials- 67.6%
Elections- 60.3%
Economy- 41.9%
Electoral districts
Election year
Paying of debts
Eisa Al Nashmi

7. Saudi Arabia Highest number of discussions about: Islamic Culture
Sunni- 50%
Shiites- 44.6%
Sahriah- 57.9%
Media- 41.2%
Other non-Arab-44.3%
Islamic Culture
Danish Cartoons
Sunni vs. Shiite
Eisa Al Nashmi

8. Local Issues Kuwait: 73.5% Egypt: 54.4% Saudi Arabia: 47.8%
Jordan: 13.7%
Eisa Al Nashmi

9. Jordan Highest number of discussions about:
Ideology
War
Palestine
Israel
Lebanon
All Arab
About 60% of population are of Palestinian origin
Eisa Al Nashmi

10. Egypt Second highest number of discussions about: Geography History
War
Israel
Palestine
Geography
History
Eisa Al Nashmi

11. The Middle East
Eisa Al Nashmi

12. RQ3: What was the tone of the original post?
Eisa Al Nashmi

13. Overall
Tone
Frequency
Percentage
Positive 88
9.2
Negative
432 45
Neutral
389
40.5
Mixed 51
5.3
Total
960
100
Arabs were critical of almost everything, but that criticism was observed to be mostly constructive, rational, and thoughtful.
Some discussions contained harsh, demeaning, and violent language, but those were not very common.
Eisa Al Nashmi

14. RQ4: How did users react? Forum Mean Number of Com Agreeing
Mean Number of Com Disagreeing
Mean Number of Com Adding
Al Ommah
1.69
0.97
4.04
Sahat KSA
2.22
0.66
2.93
Abu-Mahjoob
2.27
0.55
4.01
Egypt Sons
2.28
0.54
3.23
Eisa Al Nashmi

15. Main Findings The Arab world is not homogenous
every Arab country has its own political agenda determined by geographical, historical, cultural, and political contexts.
The Arab world and the West
Arabs were very critical of those who dispute and challenge them, but violent and threatening discussions aimed at Western countries were rarely found.
The Internet is not a threat to Arab governments
Eisa Al Nashmi

16. Thank You
Eisa Al Nashmi